Child Protection Indonesia Project #46275

Empowering Women in Kalimantan to Prevent Stunting

by Yayasan Usaha Mulia / Foundation for Noble Work

Project Report | May 6, 2021
Ensuring food security in Bukit Batu, Central Kalimantan

By Yolanda Utami Nilasari | Program Development Coordinator

A mother and daughter working on their home garden

It has been more than a year since the first Covid-19 case outbreak in Indonesia. The conditions are slowly improving and vaccines are being distributed to the elderly, however for many families in rural areas, life is still far from what it used to be before. For many, the decrease, or even worse, the loss of income has affected their ability to meet their basic needs, such as food.

After a short survey of households in Bukit Batu, Central Kalimantan to find out what support families needed most, a program distributing subsidized home garden materials was introduced. The materials include chicken manure, raw husks, seeds, agricultural lime, and polybags. The project aims to help families grow their own vegetables and be able to fulfill their food needs independently. Our hope is for families to be able to nourish themselves as well as reduce the spread of the virus by avoiding going to the public market where the spread of the virus was very high.

Today, there are 211 families in Bukit Batu who are benefiting from the food security program and 94% of them are women. Our team on the ground actively monitors the growth and the yield of vegetables. The participants who have the means to use WhatsApp are included in the "food security-home garden" group, while those who do not, are visited by our trainer to their homes.

"My name is Lilies, and I am a housewife. I have always liked gardening because it is a fun activity. I happily agreed to participate in the YUM Home Garden program. I get so many benefits such as reducing my expenses on shopping for vegetables in the market. The vegetables that are harvested in my garden are healthier for my family’s consumption and I can sell the surplus to my neighbors and receive an income from the sale."

YUM hopes to reach at least another 100 families so they too may benefit from growing their own vegetables, which not only reduces their daily expenses but also keeps them healthy during this pandemic.

A man tending the plantion at the side of his home

She is happily showing her home garden results

YUM's staff on her visit to one participant's home

YUM's staffs distributing the manures

Several seeds for the home garden planting

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Jan 12, 2021
YUM'S project has been chosen as GlobalGiving's January 2021 Project Of The Month!

By Yolanda Utami Nilasari | Program Development Coordinator

Food packages distribution for the elderly

Dear friends and supporters,

Happy New Year 2021!

We wish you a new year filled with peace, joy, and prosperity! We survived 2020 and thrived because of your continued support. We were able to exceed our goals and expand our services because of the generosity and commitment of people like you.

As we begin this new year, we are thrilled to inform you that Yayasan Usaha Mulia's project https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/help-promote-good-reading-habits-in-kalimantan/ has been chosen as GlobalGiving's Project of the Month for January 2021! Our project to enhance the quality of literacy and education in Central Kalimantan was duly selected from a pool of more than 5,000 nonprofit projects in 170+ countries. Nearly 3,000 donors come together and make monthly donations to keep the Project of the Month going. This extra support means the world to us—and to the children living in Bukit Batu, Central Kalimantan. Over the course of this year, we’ll use these funds to help continue the tutoring sessions in our library. With 9 months of being out of school, the children living in rural Indonesia are experiencing a tremendous learning loss and we hope the small group tutoring sessions can help to ensure that the basics of reading, writing, and simple maths are achieved.

Since our last update in November, your donations to our COVID-19 Relief Initiative have helped a variety of activities in both West Java and Central Kalimantan. We continue to support the elderly in both areas by providing them with basic food packages as they are the most at risk right now and it’s important for them to stay healthy and stay indoors. We also closely work with the Integrated Healthcare Posts (Posyandu) in West Java where pregnant mothers receive monthly health check-ups. YUM has conducted training for approximately 50 volunteer health workers, following COVID-19 health protocols, providing them with knowledge about stunting and how to prevent it, about the importance of iron supplement tablets, and how to correctly use tools of measurement for pregnant women to ensure that their pregnancy remains healthy. Currently, we are planning the same type of intervention in Central Kalimantan.

We look forward to continuing our efforts and reaching out for more people to help this year and we can only do so with your continued compassion and generous support.

Sincerely,

Yolanda

Project Leader

Delivering information of Covid and its prevention

Miss Erna explaining about the causes of Stunting

Body temperature check before the training

A volunteer health worker practising her speech

YUM Volunteer Health Workers ready to serve you!

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Nov 22, 2020
Stunting Prevention Programs help mothers like Santi

By Yolanda Utami Nilasari | Program Development Coordinator

Santi and her child

Dear friends,

We hope you are continuing to stay safe and well during this challenging time. We are so grateful for your continuous support to this project and would like to share with you a story of one of our beneficiaries, Santi, a mother of a 2-year-old boy:

When Santi became pregnant with her first child, she prayed her baby would grow healthy and strong. But, he turned out to be small for his age. At 13 months, her son Walid was diagnosed as being "stunted." Poverty and malnutrition are a part of life in Santi’s village in Cibadak, West Java. Her husband’s unpredictable income working as a food vendor did not provide enough for all that Walid's developing body required.

Luckily, upon diagnosis, Walid was included in YUM’s Stunting Program at the monthly health clinic (called Posyandu). Santi took Walid to the Posyandu each month, where YUM staff monitored his height and weight and provided health education. They also gave her food and sanitation packages and a colorful growth chart to hang in her home — a reminder to keep up her efforts towards Walid’s optimal growth. She returned month after month until one happy visit, Walid was declared no longer stunted!

Today, Santi tries her best to keep her son healthy, especially knowing all the challenges he would face later in life had he remained stunted. With the pandemic, her husband’s income has decreased, and providing proper nutrition for Walid is a challenge. Santi continues to visit the monthly Posyandu and is especially grateful to YUM in this uncertain time. She gives thanks that she has learned about stunting and how to prevent it.

Your support is helping hundreds of mothers like Santi to understand what stunting is and to receive the support that they need to keep their children healthy. In times like these, it’s crucial for these Posyandu to remain open as a source of knowledge and monitoring tool to prevent further stunted children in Indonesia.

If you would like to continue helping mothers like Santi, we will be participating in this year’s #GivingTuesday campaign on GlobalGiving. We’d love you to join us and donate to this project because GlobalGiving has $1,000,000 in matching funds for all donations received on December 1st!

Stay safe,

Yolanda

A nurse giving a child deworming treatment

A nurse checks a pregnant woman

Deworming treatment helps improving child immunity

Iron tablets prevent pregnant woman from anemia

YUM's nutritious food package for mother and child

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